RwandAir receives $153mn governement injection
Rwanda’s government will be providing national carrier RwandAir (WB, Kigali) with RWF145.1 billion Rwandan Francs (USD153 million) in funding for the 2020/21 financial year (July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021) to help it through the coronavirus pandemic.
This is up from RWF121.8 billion (USD128 million) for the current financial year. The announcement was made by minister for finance and economic planning, Uzziel Ndagijimana, on May 21 whilst presenting the Budget Framework Paper in parliament, Rwanda’s private Igihe multimedia news house reported.
The additional funds will help the airline respond to the coronavirus pandemic, which forced RwandAir to suspend all scheduled commercial passenger flights in March when the country banned such flights from entering the country. The funding injection will also allow RwandAir to continue with its expansion plans, including acquiring new aircraft and opening new routes.
RwandAir had been planning to acquire two new A330-900s, an A321neo(LR), and two new B737-8s to reinforce existing routes and operate new routes. In September 2019, Rwanda's parliament approved a draft law opening the way for 92 new air routes for RwandAir, mostly to African countries but also Asia, the Carribean, Europe, and the Middle East, Rwanda's The New Times reported.
An internal memo circulated in late April, and seen by Reuters, revealed that RwandAir was planning to cut salaries by 8-65% to help deal with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, but no staff are being laid off. The airline is focussing on cargo flights to bring in revenue, it said in early May, including to Brussels National (Belgium), Guangzhou (China), and London Heathrow (United Kingdom).
During his presentation to parliament, Ndagijimana said that the transport sector has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and is expected to shrink by 1.9% in 2020 after growing 12% the previous year, which was largely thanks to a 17% increase in air transport activity.
